Conservatives Winning On Key Social Issues, Partly Thanks to MTV?

While social conservatives face a looming time of decision on whether or not to continue fighting gay marriage, they can claim victories on other fronts.

The Washington Times reports that teen birthrates and abortions have plummeted to lows not seen in decades. Birthrates among teens fell 10 percent just in the past two years.  Statistics indicate that teens are also having record low numbers of abortions (since legalization.)  While many do use contraceptives, studies also show that teens are waiting longer to have sex, and even then doing it less often.

According to the Washington Post, studies indicate that over 5 percent of the drop in teen conceptions come from the impact of shows like MTV's "Teen Mom."  Far from glamorizing early parenthood, the shows have shown the difficult side of raising children when too young.

Lower abortion rates show that teens are also less willing to consider abortion as birth control.  Those same shows most likely have an impact on the perception of abortion being not a clinical procedure so much as the death of a child.

These numbers do show victories for social conservatives in important fields.  Advocates must remember, however, that part of the success came not from "thou shalt not" approaches, but generally respectful portrayals of individuals taking responsibility for unwise choices.